The Price of love…A Story of Obsession
by Fuz-Ro-What
Summary: Luthor and Lydia had known happiness and she knew joy in the arms of the man she loved. That would all change one night in the town of Falkreath when they chanced upon a seductive stranger at The Dead Man's Drink. This is part 1 of the continuing story of Luthor and Lydia.


_The continued story of Luthor and Lydia..._

 **The Price of love…A Story of Obsession**

In the months since Jarl Balgruuf assigned Lydia to Luther, a wanderer and an Imperial Mage from Cyrodiil, she had fallen in love with him. She had seen the depths of his heart and the nobility of his soul. She had felt great joy when one evening in The Bee and Barb tavern, Luthor, on bended knee proposed marriage. She knew she would spend the rest of her life with this man . . . her Thane and her lover. The next few months were full of joy as they, as husband and wife, combined sword and sorcery to take on bandits, rogues, and anyone who threatened the peace of their world.

But the peace they knew would all change at The Dead Man's Drink in Falkreath. For in that tavern was a stunning red-head who went by the name of Angelika - a buxom woman who wore her tavern wench clothes like royalty, carrying herself with grace and confidence, no man there could take his eyes off of her. Her clothes showed enough of her curvaceous form to seduce any man, married or otherwise into distraction, but it was her face that provided the air of mystery. She always wore a red-scarf covering the bottom half of her face. It was her eyes that caught Lydia's attention. There was an unnatural power in them that put Lydia ill-at-ease but seemed to draw her husband in. Lydia was surprised when Luthor suddenly invited Angelika to join in their band of adventurers. They had taken on partners before. This time seemed different. Something was terribly wrong about this. Although Lydia trusted Luthor, her hand never left the hilt of her sword while Angelika was around.

Lydia knew that, when it came to magic, Luthor was both ambitious and driven, but he had never allowed this drive to get in the way of his desire to help people.

One evening Angelika told them of a coven of vampires in the mountains surrounding Winterhold. She suggested that their small band of adventurers assist the residents by investigating and clearing out the coven. Knowing that the small town had seen enough devastation, as it had been widely known that only a small portion of Winterhold had survived the recent formation of a gorge near the Mages College, Luther was quick to accept this quest...maybe too quick.

The troop's investigation into the existence and location of any possible Vampire Nests was brief, Angelika seemingly able to guide them to the nest without issue. While dispatching the remnants of these creatures they became separated in the maze of tunnels. For a short time, Lydia found herself alone. When she finally found Luther, her world was shattered. She found him alone with Angelika in a bed chamber. His neck pierced and dripping with blood, his body limp, cast upon the bed like a child's toy. Angelika had finally removed her mask. Her fangs dripping with the blood of her victim. In the dim torch light, the blood appeared almost black, in stark contrast to the yellow glow of her eyes. Anger and despair howled through her soul, as Lydia drew her sword, with a keening shriek she lunged for the creature before her. Angelika deftly managed to evade her. Almost taunting Lydia while dancing away from her repeated, desperate attacks. Angelika, with a menacing smile vanished in a cloud of magically produced mist, never to be seen again.

Lydia had been relieved to discover that Luther had not been killed by Angelika. Within days that relief turned to panic when Luthor had turned into a Vampire. Much to Lydia's dismay he had steadfastly refused to even discuss finding a cure. Later he had discovered a way to disguise his vampiric nature while in public.

In the months that followed her relief turned to concern as Luther's interest in magic grew into an obsession. His studies had always been focused on Conjuration, now his focus was the forbidden art of Necromancy. He allowed his once short cropped hair, of the style in Cyrodiil, to grow out of control. He now sported a long beard and longer hair. While posing as a member of the Foresworn, one of the many tribes claiming Skyrim as their own, he allowed a Foresworn shaman to add a face tattoo to his once gentle features.

When their shared adventure took them to Solstheim, they obtained a mysterious black book, whose thrall Luther had seemly fallen into, as magically conjured tentacles, the colour of rotting leaves, emanated from its pages embracing him. There was nothing Lydia could do for him without causing him great injury. When the tentacles had finally released him and his apparent trance fell away, his obsession with obtaining power became complete. Lydia didn't know that while ensorcelled by the book, Luthor had met the first Dragonborn, Miraak. Luthor had been trapped for a short time in the Deadric Realm of Apocrypha and had been bested there by Miraak. Upon returning to Skyrim, Luthor had become more brooding, his soul darker, further embracing the Vampirism that infested his blood.

Lydia dedicated herself to saving her Thane no matter the cost. She would pay any price to find a way to bring Luthor back from the brink of his madness. She would accept death itself to bring him back to humanity, for the love that she bore for Luthor was unshakable. She watched helpless, as Luthor attacked the inhabitants of the ruined roadside fort of Snowhawk; turning all but two of the Necromancers there. He gleefully chased down the two escapees, horrifying Lydia with his brutality, tearing them apart before her eyes. He declared Fort Snowhawk his domain, the newly turned vampires there his children.

Luthor told Lydia that he would become the ultimate Necromancer and master Conjurer. Given the septims they had spent seeking out trainers and books in his search for hidden knowledge of Conjuration, she believed him. Much to her growing despair Luthor was inspired by a group of necromancers they stumbled across in the forest near Falkreath. Interrupting their dark ritual, Luther attacked and killed the necromancers, taking anything of power or knowledge he could find in their possession. Among the items Luther pillaged was a tome of an ancient Lich the sorcerers were using as a guide. This tome described a dark ritual that would give a practioner the power to turn into a powerful Lich at will. Luthor without hesitation embraced this dark path, stating that upon their return to Solstheim nothing . . . not Miraak or even Hermaeus Mora himself would stand in his way.

Lydia was ready to embrace her ultimate fate . . .death. She threw herself into every battle with reckless abandon. She prayed to her patron goddess, the Lady Mara, that each battle would be her last. Her belief in Lady Mara's teachings was absolute! She would not leave him. She was a proud Nord, so she would not allow herself die easily, to allow the enemy to kill her would deny her entry to Sovngarde and earn her the disdain of Shor, who allows only the most worthy into Sovngarde's mighty halls. So, with each battle, she secretly hoped to cross that skilled warrior who would break past her defenses piercing armor and bone, that hidden archer who's arrow would find it's mark ending to her misery.


End file.
